More than two decades after his first Academy Award nomination, Leonardo DiCaprio has secured the best actor Oscar for his role in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s survival and revenge odyssey The Revenant.

This Oscars award ends a string of Academy snubs – that made DiCaprio one of Hollywood’s most revered and bankable stars – but it also confirms that he is not black.

“I’ve been telling everyone that my whole career” DiCaprio told the press shortly after the final procession of the 88th Academy Awards.

“I am a white guy. There was no need to snub me so many times. I honestly thought that they thought I was African-American…”